Hyde5: Five more thoughts on Dolphins win

September 9, 2013|Dave Hyde

1. The big picture: The Dolphins got the win they needed in a tough opening stretch of games. They beat down Cleveland, whom many think will be a decent team this year, by repeatedly pounding quarterback Brandon Weeden. The Dolphins have a good/great defense. We know that. We saw Ryan Tannehill take a nice step forward. You can appreciate that. But the offense struggled much of the day, the line and running game became undependable, and you can’t have glaring weaknesses like that and become a playoff team. These were issues the past several years.We’ll see if this gets cleaned up or is part of a trend.

2. Game balls to: 1) Cameron Wake, the best player on the field Sunday with 2 ½ sacks and six quarterback hits; 2) Ryan Tannehill, who put away the game by completing six of seven passes for 78 yards on the game-sealing TD drive; 3) Brandon Fields, who again showed he’s a strong weapon by punting five times for a 53.8-yard average, including a 66-yard punt in the third quarter from his own 16. 4) Caleb Sturgis, who made all three field-goal attempts on a day the Dolphins needed them all.

3. Stock market report. Moving up: Brian Hartline. The question when the Dolphins gave him the off-season contract is whether he was a No. 2 receiver. No doubt after Sunday when he had nine catches for 114 yards and a touchdown; Moving down: Lamar Miller. Ten carries for three yards and his hamstrings were being worked on in the second half by trainers. The big issue when the Dolphins let go of Reggie Bush was if Miller was ready to handle full-time duties. One game doesn’t make a season. But it wasn’t a good game.

4. Quote of the day: “Ask coach,’’ Mike Wallace said it, repeatedly, when asked about his one catch, 15-yard game. It’s strange for Wallace to pull this after one game – even if he should never go through a half where he’s not even targeted as he did Sunday.

5. Looking ahead: It's Andrew Luck next week, not Brandon Weeden. This will begin a stretch of Luck, Matt Ryan, Drew Brees and Joe Flacco for the Dolphins defense. So we'll get a reading on how good/great the defense in a month. Luck had his eighth come-from-behind win against Oakland in a game where the Colts struggled. Luck had a 127.9 quarterback rating Sunday. The road grows steeper.